"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars." – Khalil Gibran

A.S. Face 1397: Sara

13 years ago I started to have this back pain, it was easy to ignore then but not so much anymore. I was dismissed by doctors for years, no one really knew why I had the pain, but no one really took me seriously either. I had my first child a girl, in 2005 and I had so much pain after I had her, and it was even worse after my son. It was just too much by that point and I could no longer take doctors dismissing me. After I found a decent primary doctor, she sent me to a Physical Medicine and Rehab doc and he said I should loose weight and I would feel better, but to cover his own butt he decided to do some blood work and xrays. When I arrived at my follow up appointment he apologized to me and said it wasn’t nothing after all and that I had abnormal blood work and xrays and he sent me a Rheumatologist. After I saw Dr. O about three times, I finally decided to believe him, that I did have this disease known as Ankylosing Spondylitis. He started me off on a few different NSAIDS, but once those failed to relieve my severe pain, he said I needed to try a biologic. Right when I got up the nerve to try one, things happened that kept me from starting something right away. I have just recently started on Remicade. I don’t know what my future holds, and I still struggle both physically and emotionally, but I am thankful for everyone I have met along the way on this journey. I hate this disease, but I will not let it beat me. I continue to fight every day for myself, and my family. I wish the same for you, and if you are new to AS I would suggest you learn as much as you can about it so that you can be your own best advocate. You will have your good and bad days, but remember that each day you wake up is something to be grateful for. Never give up and many blessings to you my friends!